


Gone

by super_madi



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Addiction, Dark Betty Cooper, Drugs, F/M, Hair Dyeing, Jughead to the rescue, Non-Explicit Sex, Other, Recovery, Sex, worried
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-03-20 21:36:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13726449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/super_madi/pseuds/super_madi
Summary: Nobody had seen or heard from her in a year and a half. So why has she showed up on Veronica's doorstep crying?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been back and forth on whether to post this or not...  
> So, I just decided to go for it.

After high school, everybody knew that Betty and Jughead were gonna move to New York City and try to achieve their dreams. They had a nice little apartment rented and had been living in the small place they called home for about three weeks before Jughead came home to find it empty. All of the furniture and their belonging were still there but the girl herself was gone. All that was left was a note on the nightstand.

 

_Jug,_

_I’m sorry._

_I couldn’t pretend anymore. I needed to make a life for my self without the help of anyone else, including you. I’m still in the city and going to be okay so don’t try and find me. I just couldn’t live up to everyone's expectations anymore._

_Love always,_

_Elizabeth Cooper._

That was about a year a half ago. The day after he had received a call from his publisher, his novel was going to be sold in every bookstore across the country. Within a month his book was a New York Times Best Seller and his bank account was set for life. So he sold the little 500 square foot apartment on the Upper West Side for a beautiful, expensive apartment in Tribeca with a great rooftop view. It was the exact opposite of their first place which was exactly what he needed. 

Nobody had heard from Betty since that day. Jug was the last one to see her that morning before he left to meet with his publisher. She had seemed fine, better than fine as she pulled him back into bed as he was getting dressed and acting all flirty and kissing his neck until he gave in. The sex was great, but it felt different than the other times, and it wasn’t until a few days later that he realized it was her way of saying goodbye. 

 Sometimes he will see a blonde on the street or in a restaurant and thinks it is her but every time it’s just another ghost. 

Everyone has their stories as if she was a myth. Veronica even thinks she saw a blonde watching her on the subway one day but was too preoccupied with her phone call to realize until she was off the train. 

But since that day nobody saw or thought they saw her… that was until she showed up on Veronica's doorstep crying. 

 

It was a rainy night in the city, no thunder but the rain was still heavy. At three in the morning, Veronica and Archie were awoken by banging on their front door. She opened the door, wearing only Archies shirt, she stared in awe at the girl who was soaking wet and shivering. Not even saying any words Veronica ushered the girl inside and wrapped her in her arms as the redhead went to get towels. When he came back he turned on the lights, both of them gasped. “Betty, did you dye your hair?” Veronica asked the girl now sitting on the couch. 

“Needed something less noticeable.” She said bluntly between shivers. Her hair was no longer blonde but a medium grey as she wore dark eyeliner and eyeshadow with a deep purple colored lipstick that made her green eyes look almost colorless. Her eyes were puffy and red as her mascara ran down her face, she had obviously been crying. 

Archie and Veronica both looked at each other worried about their friend. 

“Betty, would you like to stay in the guest room?” Veronica said quietly as Betty just nodded in reply. The two girls stood up as the raven-haired girl lead the other down the hall to the empty room as Archie went to Veronicas. 

“Do you want to borrow some pajamas?” She said noticing that the girl was only wearing a cropped top of some type that barely covered her breast and a mini skirt with buttons going down the front but not correctly button like it was done in a hurry. Veronica went to her room to find a pair of pajamas when she found her boyfriend sitting on the edge of the bed. 

“Has she said anything?” He asked.

“No, but maybe after some sleep she’ll feel better. I can tell by looking at her eyes that she is on some type of drug or at least was.” She quietly as she searched for her pair of pajamas she had bought Betty for Christmas but never got the chance to give her. “Don’t tell Jug that she’s here, or at least not until we find out why she is here.” Archie just nodded knowing that Veronica knew how to handle this the best. 

Veronica went back into the guest room to find Betty asleep on the bed, she looked peaceful but Veronica knew she had to wake the girl so she did. Betty was in a state of coming down from a high so she wasn’t very aware of what was happening. Veronica helped the girl change into the clean pajamas noticing scars and marks along Betty’s torso and legs. Betty mumbled some words about looking not touching before going back to playing with Veronicas lose strands of hair.  Next, she took a makeup wipe and cleaned off all the heavy makeup from the ex-blondes face. When she was done she smiled at the thought of her best friend and was glad to know she was still under all the products.

“You almost forget my neck V!” Betty said bubbly.

So Veronica took the wipe to her neck and wiped around until three or four hickeys appeared on her neck. Betty then slipped under the covers and fell asleep as Veronica stared at her neck.   She quietly turned off the lights and shut the door then returning to her own room.

“Archie, she has hickeys all over her neck and scars all over her body. Some look older than others but they are still pretty fresh. Plus she is doing drugs, where has she been that she has to live like that?” Archie wrapped his arms around his girlfriend comforting her as they laid in bed. It was now about four and they both knew they would be up worrying about the girl across the hall. 

“ I don’t know but I think we need to call Jug first thing in the morning. He needs to know.” Veronica just nodded in agreement being too tired to talk anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later after getting a small nap in Archie decided to call his best friend. It was nine in the morning, he knew Jug would be up for his first glass of coffee. So he dialed the familiar number and waited to drop the bomb on his brother like figure. 

It ran three times before he answered. 

“Hey man what’s up?”

“Actually kind of a lot. Something has happened and I think you should see fit yourself, it’s about Betty.” The line went silent for a moment. 

“What about her.” He said bluntly trying not to think the worst. 

“She's here man, but she doesn’t look good. We thought you would want to know.” 

“Yeah, thanks, man. Um, can I come over and see her?” He asked softly

“Doors unlocked. I’ll start a new brew.” Archie said knowing the male on the other lines attachment to coffee. 

“I’ll see you in 15,” Jughead said as he hung up the phone before he would change his mind. He quickly threw on some clean clothes, grabbed his phone, jacket, wallet, and keys before he practically ran out the door towards the subway. Luckily his new place was only a few stops away from Veronicas West Village penthouse apartment. 

 

Racing up the stairs towards Veronica's apartment Jughead was worried what would be awaiting him. He got to the door and opened it and saw only the redhead sitting at the counter sipping a cup of coffee. “Hey Arch.” He said as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured himself a cup. “Where is she?” 

“Ronnie is with her now. She showed up at three last night and she spent an hour cleaning her up so she could sleep. She has no purse, phone or wallet. No fucking idea how she got here but she did in the pouring rain.” Archie paused not knowing if he should go on but he knew Jug would learn soon enough. “She was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was wearing an outfit that was something from a porn site or something. Dark makeup and she dyed her hair grey. If I didn’t look into her eyes I would not have known it was her.” 

“She dyed her hair?” Jug asked feeling upset at the thought of sweet, innocent Betty Cooper doing drugs and dressing in anything but her sweaters. But when she left she didn’t take any of them, and they sat in a box waiting for her to come home. 

“Yeah. Can’t even tell she is a natural blonde.” Archie said taking another sip of his coffee. The two guys just stood in silence next to each other. Both with a million thoughts running through their heads. That's when the guest room door opened. 

“Let me see what we have for breakfast. I’ll be right back.” She said into the room before closing the door and walking to the kitchen. “Morning guys.” She said tiredly. 

“How is she?” Jug asked as she went to the fridge looking for any meal she could throw together. 

“She’s tired. Hasn’t said much. Damn, we don’t have any eggs. I’m going to run down the street real fast.” She said closing the fridge and making her way to the guest room to tell her guest she’ll be back soon. As soon as she was out the door Archie decided to take a shower, leaving Jughead alone in the open area of the apartment. He sat on the couch and looked for something to watch but unable to focus he decided just to turn it off. Then he heard a door shut quietly. “Arch where does Ronnie hide the-” He paused as he saw the girl who left him instead of the redhead. “-chips.” He finished quietly still staring at the girl. 

“Oh sorry, I didn’t think anyone was out here.” She was wearing an old Riverdale hoodie over what he guessed was her clothes from last night because it was not something she would have found in the guest room closet. 

“Archie is in the shower and Veronica will be back soon.” He looked down not wanting to see how different she was.

“Okay tell them I said thanks.” She started to make her way to the front door. 

“Wait.” He said suddenly as he stood up and looked at the girl. “You probably don’t care about my opinion but leaving again will break Veronica's heart. Just stay through breakfast, I mean she is doing her own food shopping for you.” He tried to persuade her but the girl was about to open the front door when the raven-haired girl did so herself. She had a bag of a few groceries surprised to see the ex-couple even interacting. 

“Oh, Betty were you leaving?” She asked looking hurt. Jug looked to Betty trying to push her into staying hoping she saw the reaction of her so-called best friend. 

“No I was just gonna get some fresh air but I can wait.” She said with a small smile. 

Eventually, Archie came out of the shower and Veronica had made simple omelets for everyone. Betty ate quietly, barely eating anything actually.  Everyone noticed but nobody said anything.  
Jughead stood up from his chair, already done eating he grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. “I’m going out for a smoke.” He announced as he walked to the front door shutting it behind him. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is where it gets messy. 
> 
> Short chapter but this is where the trigger warnings start.

 

The September breeze was cool as the sound of the city blended with the thought in his head. Outside of the apartment was a small porch that looked out to the city. 

“Mind sharing a light?” She said pulling him from his thoughts. Silently agreeing he tossed his lighter to the girl with a cigarette already in her hand. 

“You still have this old thing?” She asked examining the lighter. It was an old one she’d given him as a present when she saw it at a gas station. It had a crown on it, it was perfect for him. He wasn’t smoking a lot then but now he smoked at least three a day.  

“Yeah, I don’t easily give up on things.” It was a low blow and he knew it but she needed to hear it. When she left he lost the love of his life and by the end of the six months he lost his dad to some Serpents job gone bad. Sure he had a best seller book and more money he’d ever seen in his life but what was it for if the girl he did it all for was gone. 

She silently lit her own cigarette and blew out the smoke dramatically. He was watching her from the corner of his eye and if he’d seen her on the street he would never know that she was the small town girl who he’d grown up with. 

“Why’d you dye your hair?” He asked trying to fill the silence. 

Her hand went to touch her silver locks. It was like she was a stranger sometimes to herself. “Well, I saw Ronnie on the subway a few months ago.  I knew she would have recognized me if she wasn’t so busy yelling at someone over the phone, so I went to the nearest store, bought the color I knew would blend in the most but was still-“

“Different,” Jughead spoke finishing her sentence. 

“Yeah and I felt like blonde didn’t fit the life I’m living.” She said quietly.

Jug took a hit of his cigarette and blew it out of his lungs before speaking again. “And what kind of life is the now Betts?” 

“I work at a bar.” She said softly.

“Like as a bartender?” He asked she just shook her head as she looked at the ground.

“Jesus Betty.” He said taking off his beanie and running his hand through his hair. 

“It's not what you think. I don’t have sex with them.” She said still focused on a spot on the ground. 

“Still doesn’t explain why you show up here crying in the pouring rain in the middle of the night.”

“Um, so I was walking back from my shift when some guy from earlier had started to follow me.” She said with her voice shaking. “ I didn’t notice him until he grabbed my wrist and pulling me into some alley. He was upset. Called me a tease and a bitch. Started grabbing at me, trying to get my pants off.” She stopped needing to take a breath between her quiet sobs. 

Jug reached out for her hand gently. “Betty did he-“ She moved away from his touch abruptly. “No, but it came close.” She stopped him from saying the word rape. “He was drunk so he wasn’t very coordinated and some animal or something caused a lot of noise distracting him long enough for me to push him onto the ground and run away. I ran for a while and then started raining. Not really sure but the next thing I knew I was at Ronnie’s doorstep.” She wiped the tear away from her eye before it could fall. “I don’t even really know what I’m doing anymore.” 

He stood there watching her. All Jughead wanted to do was to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But he just stood there watching the girl he used to know. She was the one who left and forced herself down this path of destruction. She didn’t run back to him in her time of need but to Veronica. So as much as it pained him to see her like this he knew comforting her would just hurt him. 

“I still care about you, even if you don’t care about me anymore. But I can’t stay here and watch you destroy yourself. When you’re ready to come home, call me.” 

He then turned and left the girl standing there alone. She eventually went back inside the apartment to thank and say her goodbyes. 

“Promise this isn’t the last time we see you?” Veronica asked with pain in her eyes. 

Betty just swallowed the truth and replied with a nodded. Archie told her to keep the sweatshirt and with a small smile, she walked back towards her shared apartment.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it gets bad. Again idk what is my thought process. If it's too much then be let me know lol. 
> 
> Whatever your thoughts are you should put it in the comment. I promise I can take the criticism.

It had been 17 months, 3 weeks and 1 day since she left he old life behind. Leaving nothing but a note and taking only the clothes on her back and the money from her bank account which now sat at zero. 

Jughead had seemed so happy as he got ready that morning. She knew she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to his face so she settled for being intimate with him one last time. She held back the tears as he kissed her goodbye. When the door shut behind him she wrote the note, threw a few things into a duffle bag and left her phone and keys on the front table. 

As much as it hurt to leave it hurt even worse to act like nothing was wrong with her. It was something that Jughead would never have understood and maybe she took the cowards way out but this was the best way for her to protect him. 

She ran away from their home and life together. She didn’t know where she was going but ran until she couldn’t run anymore. 

 

She took the first job she found. It started as a waitress which turned out to be a dancer which turned into getting paid to do whatever the client told her to do. She wasn’t a stripper because men didn’t pay her to take her clothes off but paid the club to have her dance, tease, blow or whatever they had enough to pay for. 

Working in a club there was never a problem finding drugs. If they didn’t take a pre-show pill or hit then out on the floor it would be practically forced onto the girls. 

Betty tried her hardest not to do any drugs but it became difficult when she would get paid just to snort the powder on the table with a client. After that, it became a regular part of her job to be high while working. It made her numb and as she continued to run from her problems the numbness just grew until she begun to rely on the drugs. 

Ever since she wound up at Veronica’s door every time she went to work or took a hit of whatever drug was being offered to her, she had begun to hesitate. Maybe it was knowing they were still out there, caring about her that caused her to think about her life, but yet it wasn’t enough to make her stop. 

She loved the rush of right before the drugs kicked in or the feeling when some client requested her for the night. She didn’t lie to Jughead when she said she didn’t have sex with them but she was stretching the truth. She never had sex but she did give blowjobs and handjobs. A few times she had been asked to just watch a couple as they fucked, but never herself. Only a few times had she been asked for the client to finger or lick her, but it had always been with other females. She hadn’t had actual sex with anyone since the day she had left. Many times she had come close but never actually had to worry about condoms or the morning after pill.  

But two weeks after seeing her old friends had she found herself working her normal shift. She wiped her nose as this was her first shift of the night and the cocaine was beginning to kick in. 

She walked through the hallway, and up to the familiar door. She quickly adjusted her one size too small white tube top that left little up to imagination and denim shorts. She walked into the room with her famous flirty smile but stopped in shock as she saw the man waiting for her. 

“Finally I get the little tease to myself.” 

She tried to get to the door but he quickly grabbed her arms and hair and pulled her closer to him. She tried to scream but nothing came out. 

He began feeling her up with one hand and the other wrapped around her throat. He tried to take her top off but she kept refusing. After multiple failed attempts to get her top off, he grew aggravated and threw the small girl against the wall. 

She felt as sharp pains began to come from her torso. He then hit her so hard her head hit the wall again and she blacked out. 

She woke up sometime later and was already sobbing. The room was empty beside her broken self. She looked down to see her breast falling out of her shirt, her short halfway down her thighs and a condom wrapper near her. She immediately knew what had happened to her and began to cry some more. She slowly fixed her clothing and tried to stand up. After two tries and failing she curled into a ball. That was when she saw the glow of her phone faintly beside her. Somehow her phone had fallen during the struggle, fallen and ended up face down on the ground. 

She picked it up and dialed the familiar number. 

 

~~~

 

“Hello?” He answered his phone tiredly. 

“Juggie?” He heard he voice. It sounded as if she had been crying. 

He immediately up in his bed as he became wide awake. 

“Betty?” He looked at his clock next to his bed. It was 3:43 am. “What’s wrong, are you okay?”

“No. I need help.” 

“Okay slow down. Where are you?” 

“I’m hiding in a back room at the club and-“ He could tell she was beginning to break down crying. 

“Hey shh, it’s okay. Stay where you are, I’ll be there soon.”

He quickly threw on a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and a flannel. He grabbed the keys to his truck and wallet and ran out of his apartment. 

He drove to the address he got off of the internet as quick as he could. Being the middle of the night on a weekday the streets of New York were fairly empty. 

The area changed from high rises and skyscrapers to warehouse and bars. It was known as the more run down part of the city, the place where people go only late at night. 

The building he pulled next to was no different from those around it. He pulled quickly into a parking spot and jumped out of the car. He ran inside and quickly looked around for the ex-blonde. 

The whole place was dirty and filled with men. The lighting was low with spotlights on a stage and on the bar. The girls were dressed in barely anything as they all focused on older men around the place. The whole place disgusted him. 

He walked to the bar where the bartender stood looking smug. 

“I’m looking for someone.” He said darkly. 

“Aren’t we all.” He looked the male up and down. “So what’s your type brunette, redhead, or blonde. You seem like the type-“ 

Jughead quickly grabbed the older mans collar and pushed him against the bar. 

“You’re gonna shut the hell up and tell me what I want to know, understand?” 

The man just nodded his head. 

“She’s got grey dyed hair, skinny and works here. She called me crying about half an hour ago, so I ask where is she?” 

“There is some bitch who locked herself in one of the rooms.” 

“Show me where.” 

The guy leads him to a dark hallway that had about four doors spread out throughout it. All with different sounds coming from behind each. He stopped in front of the last door, the only one without noise. 

“She’s in there.” He said pointing to the door before walking back to the main area of the club. 

Jughead knocked on the door slightly. “Betty it’s me.”

He heard the sound of the lock, allowing him to enter the room. 

He walked into the room and was shocked. It was painted red with only one light. There was a bed with only the sheets, a chair, small amounts of drugs, some rope and a lot of sex toys and bondage items laying around the room. 

Betty laid on the floor in the corner of the room with her arms wrapped around her knees, her phone on the floor next to her and tears running down her face. He quickly rushed over to her.

She was wearing nothing but a practically see-through tube top and a short pair of shorts.

“Betty, are you hurt?” He asked as he kneeled down next to her. 

She just shook her head no. 

“Can you tell me what happened?” he said looking at the bruises beginning to form on her torso. She slowly sat up to face him. 

“That guy came back.” She said sobbing. “He paid before and requested me so I didn’t know it was him until I had entered the room. I did some cocaine before my shift so I wasn’t that aware of things at first. Then things started to hurt, as he started pulling my arms, dragging me by my hair. He tried to take my clothes off but I kept saying no. He eventually got tired of it and threw me here and beat me.” 

She looked up at him with her glossy and sad eyes. 

“I blacked out after a few minutes, and then woke up with the pain on my torso and my thighs. I think he got what he wanted.”  

Jughead just pulled her closer to his body, hugging her. 

“Everything is going to be okay.” 

“How do you know that?” She said pulling away.

“Because I’m gonna take care of you.” 

He then took off his flannel shirt and wrapped it around the girl.

“Can you walk?” He asked softly and she just shook her head in response. He then picked her up bridal style and carefully carried her out of the room. She curled into his body, still shaking. They passed the bartender who just stared at them.

“Tell your boss that Elizabeth Cooper quits and expects her pay by this time next week.” 

He then carried her out of the club and carefully put her into the passenger side of the truck. 

He began to drive away from the darkness that the club held and drove towards the sun that had just begun to rise.

He didn’t know what to do, so he drove them to the hospital. She had fallen asleep on the bench of his truck, and so he carefully carried her into the emergency room. He checked her in and filled out all of her emergency information. After that it didn’t take long for them to call her name and luckily she had woken up by then. 

He carried her into an examination room where she explained to the doctor what had happened. It hurt him to listen to her talk in detail about her attacker. The doctor then called for a wheelchair so Jughead didn’t have to carry her to a hospital room where she would be staying.

They eventually kicked Jughead out and he decided it was the time to call Veronica. 

The two of them rushed to the hospital where the three of them waited for two hours while Betty was put through the process of a rape kit exam. 

 

~~~

 

“Mr. Jones?” He sat up quickly and walked over to the nurse. She led him into a private hallway. 

“Miss Cooper is sleeping, and we are going to keep her overnight or the rest of the night. We have finished and sent the exam over to the police. We’ve had to flush out the drugs from her system and put her on the path of rehabilitation. When she wakes up in the morning she will make the decision on how to continue.”

Jughead just nodded, slowly taking in the information the nurse was saying. 

“Can I see her?” 

“Normally we don’t allow visitors past the designated hours but due to the circumstances and that you are her emergency contact we can allow you to stay.”

He nodded as she led him towards her room. The hospital hallways were empty minus the few doctors and nurses working the late night shift. 

He walks into her room and his heart breaks at the sight of her. Her dyed hair is laying lose over her shoulders and she is hooked up to an IV. She sleeps soundly with only the sound of the hospital filling the small room. 

He sent a quick text to Veronica and Archie letting them know what was going on before sitting down in a chair opposite of the door. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In no way do I support this lifestyle.  
> Pretty sure this stuff happens in real life, and it is a serious topic so I tried to make it as serious as I could...
> 
>  
> 
> I wasn't even sure if I was going to post this chapter, but I decided that I might as well and if anyone thinks it is too extreme send me a message and I may end up taking it down.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty POV from the hospital

She woke up feeling tired. The white room seemed unfamiliar and both of her arms had a strange pressure. She looked to her left and saw an IV sticking from her arm. Why she had an IV sticking out of her arm confused her, so she tried to pull it out. She barely moved her right hand to her left arm when she was stopped by a hand.

She looked up to see the man she loved sitting next to her.

That was when everything came back to her.

_The bar, her attack, and calling Jughead._

She didn’t remember much after she fell asleep but she does remember being at the hospital.

“I think you should leave that in.”

She just laughed as she breathed from her nose. “Why should I?” She said with more attitude then she meant.

“You probably don’t remember but I told you I was going to take care of you now, and I meant it.” He said with a slight smirk.

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me, so you can just go home.”

_I’m lying. I want you to stay and take care of me._

“Well, I wanna be here. I also know that you want me to be here or else you wouldn’t if called me last night and you would have kicked me out by now.”

“Who says I’m not going to?”

He just smiled as he leaned back in his chair. His cocky smirk turned into a soft smile.

“You know you’re still my emergency contact too. I couldn’t bring myself to change it.”

She looked over to him. She could see how tired he was and noticed he was missing his flannel.

“What happened to your flannel?”

He looked down to his outfit and realized he wasn’t wearing it. “Hm, I actually don’t know. Last I saw it, you had it.” He looked around the room. “Maybe the nurses have it with your other clothes.”

She looked down to that she wasn’t wearing her normal clothes but a hospital gown.

“Veronica and Archie were here earlier. They weren’t allowed past the waiting room but they wanted to be here. They are running some errands right now, Veronica insists on bringing you some clothes. They are going to stop by when visiting hours start.”

“Start? What time is it?”

He looked at the time on his phone. “Uh it's 7:43, visiting hours start at 8.” He looked to her with a fake smile on his face. “So you’re stuck with me for a little bit longer.”

She looked down to her hands that were playing with the blanket draped over her legs.

“What am I going to do now, Juggie?”

“Well, that is up to you. Sort of,” he moved so his hands were on the edge of the bed.“I’m obviously not letting you go back to that hell hole. If you couldn’t tell by the IV and probably the extreme effects from the detox but the doctors have put you on the path of rehabilitation. They are gonna ask you how you want to continue, and I really hope you do.”

“I want to. I really do, but I’m not okay.” She didn’t even try to wipe the tears that had begun rolling down her cheeks. “And I haven’t been okay for a really long time.”

He leaned forward and put his hands gently on her forearms.

“But you don’t have to go through it alone. I’m not leaving you.” He moved one of his hands down to hers. “I have an extra bedroom that you can have. There is a doorman, a rooftop, and a kitchen you’d love.” He said with a small smile. “I’m offering this to you as a friend, and as much as this hurts me you need a friend more than anything else. But I know you are strong and I know you can do this.”

They just stayed there with him holding her hands until the nurse came in a few minutes later. He decided to give her some privacy and went out into the hallway. He then called Archie.

_“Hey Jug, we’re on our way to the hospital now. How is she?”_

“She’s okay. She woke up about fifteen minutes ago and a nurse is in with her now.”

_“Ronnie has been contacting some sources and found some places for Betty to get better. Has she said anything about what she is going to do next?”_

“She says she wants to get better. I don’t think she has a plan, but I offered her the spare bedroom in my apartment.”

_“Is that a good idea, Jug?”_

“I offered it to her as a friend and she knows that.”

Archie just sighed. “ _Okay. We are pulling in now, so we’ll see you soon.”_

“Okay see you in a few.”

He turned back to Betty’s room and entered after the nurse left.

“Archie and Veronica just got here.” He said standing against the opposite wall of her.

She just nodded as she wiped a tear away from her cheek.

“They are going to release me in a few hours.”

“Good.” He just stood awkwardly while absent-mindedly playing with a piece of his hair.

“Knock Knock.” The two of them looked at the door to see the raven-haired girl standing in the doorway with the redhead behind her.

Apparently, he was standing there a lot longer than he thought.

 

Betty just smiled up at them. Veronica walked up to the girl while Archie walked over to Jughead.

“I brought you some clothes to wear,” Veronica said holding up a shopping bag. “Don’t worry their just some old things I had in my closet.” 

“Thank you.”

There was a moment of silence. Betty didn’t want to look up at her friends and see the pity in their eyes, so she kept her head down.

“Betty have you thought about what you are going to do next?”

Betty just looked over to Jughead then back to Veronica.

“Well, the nurse said she was going to bring some pamphlets with my options. I guess I’ll start from there.” Veronica just nodded as she listened. “and Jug offered me his spare room.”

Veronica then whipped her head around to the males standing against the wall observing.“Oh, he did?” She said surprised.

“Yeah, I did. She needs a safe place to live and living with a friend in a secure building is pretty safe.” He said raising his eyebrows at her.

“I think I’m gonna take him up on his offer.” She said quietly.

The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife.

“Sorry to interrupt but I have the things you request.” The nurse said as she walked into the room. She handed Betty a handful of paper, her remaining clothes in a bag along with the flannel she was wearing when she came in.

“We can release you within the hour if you’d like.” She said smiling at the girl in the bed.

“Really?” She asked shocked.

“Yep, we just need a ‘Mr. Jones’ to fill out somethings and then you are good.” She said looking at her files in her hands. “Is he still here?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Jughead said standing up from against the wall.

“Great! If you will just follow me out to the desk.” The cheerful woman said leading Jughead out to the main area.

“Betty, do you really think it’s a good idea to live with Jughead again?”

“He wants to see me get better and since I’ve been on my own I’d never seen a reason to get better. Being around him makes me want to get better, so yeah I do think its a good idea. Sure, it may be awkward, but if that's what I have to do to get healthy then I don’t see any other option."

Veronica just sighed. “Fine. But I get to be the one to take you shopping.”

Betty smiled as nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She looked down to her hands as she played with the thin hospital blanket.

“Um, can I also ask you to get my things from my apartment?” She asked timidly.

Veronica’s eyes lit up. She obviously felt the need to help the broken girl anyway she could.

“Of course B. You know I’d do anything for you.”

Betty gave a small smile to the raven-haired girl and the redhead who was still too afraid to really say anything.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story that people will love or hate. 
> 
> I have more to it that doesn't get graphic but slightly descriptive. If people want more of this or have anything to say; please let me know in the comments :)


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